Earth Boy Dream Of Angel, Angel Dream Of Earth Boy
by thesituation016
Summary: When Rhea went back in time saving the future she also became an anomaly, but this isn't about her. This is about the Rhea of this timeline that still has a lot of growing up to do. With ties to Earth and Asgard Rhea must find her own way in the universe and live up to the expectations set before her, but this doesn't mean she can't have some fun on the way.
1. Chapter 1

AN: This is Rhea from the new timeline that alternate Rhea created. Also if anyone wants to point out anything about timelines or how this Rhea shouldn't be this old yet I just wanted to let you know I messed with the timelines to suit my story.

-0-

Rhea glanced around as she slipped into her grandfather's office making sure not to be seen while Al made sure FRIDAY didn't pick up on what she was doing. She sprinted over to his desk rummaging through the drawers until she found the small flip phone Steve had left her grandfather.

She did a quick scan that downloaded all of the information in it allowing her to make a digital copy of it basically. She placed the phone back where she'd found it and quickly retreated to her room making sure not to leave behind any evidence of where she'd been.

She secured the information in her phone under files so encrypted they were practically deadlocked. Tucking her phone away into her pocket she grabbed her purple jacket throwing it over her black sports tank top. She had on a pair of blue yoga pants and a pair of black running shoes. Unwinding her headphones she made her way out of her room and down the hall letting out a sharp whistle.

The scurry of paws sounded down the hall just around the corner where Mischief, her large black Irish Great Hound with big blue eyes, had been waiting for her call. He barreled toward her, his tail wagging enthusiastically as his collar, a gold chain with an emerald marble gem hanging from it, jingled with his movements. The collar had been a gift from her father, something he said would help Mischief protect her in times of need.

"Hey, where you going?" Happy asked as she and Mischief came up to him on their way out.

"Out for a run. Mischief and I need to burn off some energy." Rhea replied rubbing the top of her dogs head. "Want to come with?"

"As fun as that sounds…" Happy said also giving Mischief a scratch behind the ears. "I have some stuff to take care of to get the Tower packed up."

"Sounds good, see you later." Rhea waved as she pushed back her mid neck length black hair cut into a bob behind her ears so she could place the buds into her ears. Her hair fell back into place and brushed her fingers through her bangs that fell just above her green eyes with silver flecks.

"Hey, stay close to the compound and keep your phone GPS on." Happy ordered.

"Yes sir." Rhea saluted before running off with Mischief hot on her heels.

She waved to a few staff members and agents as she passed them in the halls until she was finally outside in the cold crisp air. She went off to the track that ran through the woods with Mischief keeping pace with her and was soon submerged into nature. She glanced around making sure no one was following her before she went off the beaten track through an illusion she set up to hide her secret place.

She came to a clearing with a large maple tree in the center next to Rhea's cottage. It was six sided, painted a soft mint green with white trim, it had a stone chimney, and a window on either side of the door. Flower baskets hung from each corner of the shed, lattice work with flowers growing up them were on each side of the shed, and it was surrounded by a simple garden with a stone path cutting through it up to the front door.

She had built herself as a way to get some alone time to practice her magic. She practiced in the facility as well, but always seemed to garner an audience. Then there always seemed to be someone trying to talk her up to find out more about her parentage.

She walked in unlocking the door with a wave of her hand and throwing her jacket on one of the comfy chairs that flanked the fireplace. There was a circle rug in the center of the room with a large circular table on top of it covered in various chemistry tools. The walls were covered in shelves stuffed with a multitude of books as well as overflowing into the floor next to the shelves and vials of different substances were also present. Drying plants hung from the ceiling giving the cottage the look of an apothecary. The real impressive thing of the cottage was how big it was compared to the outside leaving her plenty of practice space.

She settled down in one of the chairs snapping her fingers causing flames to burst to life in the fireplace filling the room with warmth. Mischief stretched out with a yawn settling on his bed in front of the fire. She took out her phone opening the new file and her finger hovered over call. She debated for a while before deciding she had to know if they were ok. The phone was picked up on the third ring.

"Tony…?" The tentative voice of her Uncle Steve filled the speaker.

"Sorry Uncle Steve, it's just me." Rhea said wiping at her eyes, so glad to hear his voice.

"Rhea? How'd you get this number? Is everything ok?" Steve asked rapidly.

"Everything is fine, I just…I just wanted to see if you guys were ok." Rhea told him, her voice cracking slightly.

"We're all ok Rhea, but this isn't safe…" Steve sounded worried.

"Come on Steve, you think I don't know how to make a secure call." Rhea scoffed. "With the amount of technological and magical encryption I have on this call not even Heimdall could see it."

"It's good to hear from you." Steve said relaxing.

"You to." Rhea smiled. "How are your friends?"

"They're recovering." Steve sighed. "Bucky's gone back into cryo so they can help undo what Hydra did to him, Cheshire's sticking by his side, happy to be in a safe place." Steve chuckled. "The princess here is actually about your age and is heading up the process. She's pretty smart, just like you."

"Really? What's her name? Can I meet her?" Rhea asked in interest and Steve felt a small pang in his heart for her.

Rhea had trouble making friends her age and in his opinion didn't get out as much as she should. Tony was extremely protective of her when she was on earth and on Asgard, she had once told him that people were still wary of her father and therefore herself by parental association.

"Her name is Shuri and I'll see what I can do about a meeting." Steve told her making her squeal.

"What about everyone else? I heard that Uncle Clint and that ant guy got a plea bargain to go home." Rhea went on.

"Yeah, I was real happy for them, they needed to be with their families." Steve said. "Sam and Wanda are doing well and Natasha just arrived."

"If you guys need anything just text me to this number. I can send you supplies, money, hacking, anything you might need." Rhea offered.

"That's fine Rhea, but I think we'll be ok." Steve chuckled and Rhea heard something in the background. "I have to go now, I'll talk to you later."

"Ok, give everyone my love." Rhea sighed.

"Will do." Steve agreed.

-0-

Rhea locked her door behind her as she walked into her room and straight over to her desk. She opened her computer which consisted of three wireless screens and a wireless keyboard. All three screens lit up, one of them was filled with blue prints, the other was on Tumblr, and the last she opened up a facetime screen. It rang a few times before it was answered by the Princess of Wakanda herself.

"Hey Shuri! You got time?" Rhea asked.

"For you my friend I have at least thirty minutes." Shuri grinned.

"Oh thanks ever so." Rhea rolled her eyes as she rapidly typed on her computer. "How are your new shoes coming along?"

"Perfect, check them out." Shuri sent her the design and Rhea let out a low whistle.

"Nice. They're noise canceling right?" Rhea asked.

"Yes. Guess what I call them." Shuri grinned.

"What?" Rhea asked.

"Sneakers." Shuri answered making Rhea laugh.

"Should have seen that coming." Rhea shook her head. "How's Steve's friends?"

"They're doing very well, I do not think he will have to stay in cryo much longer." Shuri told her. "You were a great help."

"Not a problem, the faster he gets better the faster I can start trying to mend my family." Rhea sighed. "Hey, isn't your brother about to do the whole becoming king thing?"

"Don't remind me." Shuri groaned. "I have to wear this horrible tribal corset thing."

"Ouch." Rhea winced in sympathy. "Well let's change the subject then."

"Gladly." Shuri nodded.

"These are my latest blue prints after the last time I figured out another way on how not to do it." Rhea sent her the information.

"You mean a mistake." Shuri teased.

"I like to call them learning moments." Rhea brought up the specks sending them to Shuri.

"This might do it." Shuri mumbled as she read over the data.

"A true amalgamation of magic and technology like this could give me a power boost like no other." Rhea grinned.

"It could also rip you apart." Shuri pointed out.

"That's why I'm not going to use it before I've tested it thoroughly." Rhea assured her.

"Did you get my package?" Shuri asked.

"Yeah, are you sure it's a good idea though? You could get into a lot of trouble sending me this stuff." Rhea glanced over to where a cylinder of Vibranium was tucked away in a small vault that only she could access.

"Do not worry, I know it's in good hands." Shuri assured her. "As soon as this corination celebration is over I'm going to talk to my mother and brother, maybe you can come for a visit."

"That would be awesome, and know you're always welcome here as well." Rhea replied.

"Princess, your mother is calling for you." A voice said from Shuri's comm system.

"I'll be right there." Shuri groaned.

"Another fitting?" Rhea asked sympathetically.

"Unfortunately." Shuri moaned then corssed her arms over her chest. "I will talk to you later my friend."

"I look forward to it." Rhea copied Shuri, crossing her arms over her chest in return. "Goodbye."

"Bye." Shuri ended the connection and Rhea leaned back looking thoughtfully to her container of vibranium, a gift from Shuri that had surprised the heck out of her when she got it now she just need to figure out how to use it.


	2. Chapter 2

Rhea sat with her feet up on her desk in her lab with a large book in her lap while she mumbled under her breath twirling her fingers through the air in a circular pattern. A trail of green light followed her finger then with a sudden flick and a commanding word a green flame ignited between her hands.

"There we go." Rhea smiled taking her feet off of the desk observing the flame. "Now I just need to refine you and store you. Hopefully thanks to Shuri's help you won't blow up like your thirty some odd predecessors did."

Rhea was working on a new battery, but not just any kind of battery, a magic battery that would give her powers a boost in desperate times. She brought out a portion of her magic in the form of the green flame which she hoped she'd be been trying to purify. On her desk was a rare round cut Asgardian jewel set in dwarf star metal, but inside the crystal were cybernetic lines of Vibranium, technology of earth. Attached to the underside of the jewel was the initial power source, an arc reactor. Overall it looked like a palm sized silver brooch with a clear crystal in its center.

She slowly moved the flame over the jewel gently depositing her flame inside causing the crystal to turn green. She smiled at her flame accented by the light of the reactor below it surged through the lines, flaring a bit before settling down in the center of the jewel. She moved to her computer checking out the readings with a couple of clicks. She grinned as they seemed to be holding, but then another window popped up causing her to shoot to her feet.

"Keep a monitor on the brooch AL, anything goes wrong while I'm gone shut it down." Rhea quickly typed into her computer, a glowing blue shield made up of hexagons forming around the brooch causing it to float within. "The force field should contain anymore…learning moments should they arise."

"Will do." AL replied.

"And AL, call grandpa." Rhea ordered running for her balcony as she snapped her fingers changing her outfit into her chosen hero identity, Hex.

It was a long sleeved high necked maroon catsuit with dark maroon sides and gold accents that covered her from her neck down completely including her hands and feet, it was all one suit. She had made with the help of her grandfather and father making it the perfect union of technology and magic. It had repulser stabilizers in the gloves, it had a dark maroon belt and another thinner one that hung loose around her hips at an angle with gold buckles, and her boots had a pair of repulsers in them allowing her to fly. When using her repulsers swirling golden lines appeared on her suit and started to glow giving her the look of a shooting star when she zoomed across the sky.

The catsuit also had a hood and she wore over her face a mask made to look like a Venetian masquerade mask. It was a full face mask that was decorated with a raised golden swirling pattern from the forehead down to the middle of her cheeks including her nose leaving the rest of the mask white except for the golden lips. The mask was connected to her own AI named AL after her favorite show Quantum Leap, she even had it sounding like the beloved character.

"Actually sweetheart, he's calling you." AL replied.

"Hey Grandpa, I'm guessing you got the reading on the spider kid." Rhea took off into the air.

"Yep, are you in route?" Tony asked tightly, the only thing giving away his concern.

"Almost there." Rhea came down over a lake. "He's in the lake. Where are you?"

"I'm going in for him now, stay on shore in case he needs help." Tony replied as he dove his suit down into the waters of the lake.

Rhea stood on the shore as she watched the surface of the water until suddenly her grandpa's suit shot out of it with the spider in his arms. He flew over to shore depositing the teen on the ground in front of Rhea. She knelt down quickly ripping off his mask, Peter coughing as he turned on his side.

"Take it easy. What happened to you?" Rhea helped him up and guiding him over to some monkey bars nearby to sit down. He glanced from Tony to Rhea as he told his story, wondering who the girl was having never met her before.

"Oh, hey. And then he just, like, swooped down like a monster…and picked me up, and took me up like a thousand feet and just dropped me." Peter replied glancing from Rhea to Iron Man. "How'd you find me? Did you put a tracker in my suit?"

"I put everything in your suit." Tony replied through his suit.

"Including this heater." Rhea commented snapping her fingers which signaled Al to activate the heaters in Peter's suit. "That better?"

"Thanks." Peter replied as steam rose from his suit.

"What were you thinking?" Tony asked.

"The guy with wings is the source of the weapons. I gotta take him down. Take him down now, huh?" Peter looked to him for approval.

"Crockett, there are people who handle this son of thing." Tony told him.

"The Avengers?" Peter guessed.

"No." Tony replied. "This is a little below their pay grade."

"Mr. Stark, you didn't have to come out here." Peter said confidently. "I had that. I was fine."

"Oh, I'm not here." Tony's suit opened up to reveal it was empty inside. "Thank God this place has Wi-Fi or you would be toast right now." Tony commented before his attention was taken for a moment. "Thank Ganesh while you're at it. Cheers." He returned to Peter's problem. "Look, forget the flying vulture guy, please."

"Why?" Peter asked.

"Why?" Tony echoed. "Because I said so!"

Rhea spoke along with him having heard that as a way of an answer many times before and gained a look from him through the suit.

"It's creepy that I can feel the look through the suit." Rhea took a step back holding up her hands in surrender.

"Sorry, I'm talking to a teenagers." Tony said in exasperation. "Stay close to the ground. Build up your game helping little people, like that lady that bought you the churro. Can't you just be a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man?"

"But I'm ready for more than that now." Peter argued.

"No, you're not." Tony told him.

"That's not what you thought when I took on Captain America." Peter pointed out, Rhea frowning sadly, missing her separated family.

"Trust me, kid. If Cap wanted to lay you out, he would've." Tony shut him down. "Listen to me. If you come across these weapons again, call Happy."

"Are you driving?" Peter asked, but was ignored.

"You know, it's never too early to start thinking about college. I got some pull at MIT." Tony commented. "Rhea, head home and go to bed, no late night lab."

"Oh come one, I had a break through." Rhea whined.

"End call." Tony said and the call cut.

"Grandpa…" Rhea whined.

"No, I don't need to go to…" Peter tried.

"Mr. Stark is no longer connected." The suit said before flying off.

"That's awesome. "Stay close to the ground"? What is he talking about?" Peter grumbled while Rhea was lamenting her lab denial, Peter's phone rang, Ned's face lighting up the caller ID.

"Hey, what's up? I'm on my way back." Peter told Ned.

"Actually, I was calling to say maybe you shouldn't come. Listen." Ned held out the phone and party chanting could be heard over the phone.

"When I say "penis," you say "Parker." - Penis! - Parker! - Penis! - Parker!" Flash called out and the crowd answered.

"Sorry, Peter. I guess we're still losers." Ned lamented. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"I'll see you tomorrow in school." Peter frowned ending the call.

"Wow that sucks." Rhea commented making Peter jump, having forgotten she was there.

"Sorry, who are you?" Peter asked eyeing the girl.

"Hex." She replied.

"Are you taking Mr. Starks internship to?" Peter asked.

"Nah." Rhea decided to go with the truth as she removed her mask. "I'm his granddaughter Rhea."

"Oh…" Peter's eyes went wide.

Rhea pulled her hood back allowing her mid neck length black hair and bangs to fall free, the moon light catching the silver flecks in her green eyes, she had definitely inherited the Stark Family good looks in certain areas, but in others it was someone else's looks she had, her fathers he supposed. For instance her skin was pale peach instead of the more tanned look that Mr. Stark and Vanessa Stark had, she was also on the tall side, and her facial structure was sharp in an attractive way.

No one really knew anything about her outside of that she was Vanessa Stark's daughter and therefore Tony Stark's granddaughter. There was no clue as to who her father was or when Vanessa had ever been in a relationship that would have resulted in her daughter. A lot of nasty rumors went around for a brief time, but Tony had put a quick stop to them.

"Nice to meet you Peter." Rhea held out her hand to him.

"You…you to." Peter stumbled to shake her hand.

"Now about this party situation..." Rhea placed her arms behind her back. "I wouldn't mind checking it out."

"You mean you want to go to the party?! What about what Mr. Stark said?" Peter asked, brows shooting up.

"A little rebellion every once in a while isn't going to make me go all dark side." Rhea shrugged as she came over to stand next to him taking note that he was a bit shorter than her, Rhea being about '5,10' and Peter was around '5,8' is she was guessing, but she found it very cute. "Plus that guy making fun of you sounded like a real douche."

"Are you sure?" Peter asked getting excited.

"Yeah, it'll be fun." Rhea nodded. "Where is it?"

"The suburbs…" Peter rattled off the address.

"Sweet, not too far." Rhea nodded.

"It's on the other side of town." Peter pointed out, but Rhea activated her boots hovering in the air.

"Just hold on." Rhea placed her mask back on her face. Peter slipped his mask back on as she flew over to him wrapping an arm around his waist and he wrapped his hesitantly around her shoulders. "And brace yourself."

She took off into the air suddenly causing Peter to yell out at first in surprise at the sudden movement then excitement. He found that the view was amazing now that he wasn't having to worry about the giant bird man killing him. The stars were easier to see from their altitude and the moon was so bright. When he looked down he saw the cityscape which reminded him of a bunch of Christmas decorations and straight down were homes and cars that looked like toys to him.

"This is so cool!" Peter called out.

"It is, I love to fly." Rhea smiled as she spun them around and did a few loop to loops. Peter had almost forgotten about their destination during the exhilarating flight, and was kind of said when it wasn't too long before they were on the roof of Liz's house where Peter had left his clothes.

"Can we do that again some time?" Peter asked as he quickly slipped his clothes over his uniform glancing over to Rhea.

"Sure, why not?" Rhea nodded taking of her mask once again and shaking her hair out. Peter gave her the details of the party as he got ready.

"Um...can you go in dressed like that or…?" Peter trailed off glancing at her uniform.

"Got it covered." Rhea snapped her finger changing her clothes.

She wore a maroon tank top that reached down to her thighs with a black gothic butterfly swarm graphic on the front over an off the shoulder long sleeved black lace shirt, a black leather half jacket, two loose hanging crisscrossing black braided belts, a pair of skinny jeans, a pair of knee high black boots, and a pair of teardrop garnet earrings set in black gold.

"Wow." Peter said in wonder. "You can really do magic? Or is it some sort of hologram?"

"Magic, straight up." Rhea replied as she motioned for him to follow her off of the roof and back to the front entrance.

"So you're a witch?" Peter asked.

"Sorceress." Rhea corrected.

"What's the difference?" Peter questioned and Rhea opened her mouth to answer, but stopped short.

"You know, I'm not sure." Rhea hummed out.

"How'd you get your powers?" Peter went on.

"A good magician never reveals her secrets." Rhea smirked before changing the subject. "Now this Liz girl seems important by the way you talked about her and this being her house. What am I working with here? A crush?"

"I…well…I…" Peter struggled, cheeks flushing.

"Crush it is." Rhea nodded, a little disappointed. Peter was very handsome and smart to boot, she liked that in a man. "Well let's go in there and see what we can do."

Peter walked up the front steps with her, a large jittery smile on his face as he knocked on the door which was opened by Liz who looked in confusion at Peter.

"Peter? What are you doing out here?" Liz asked.

"Oh well I just…I brought a…a friend to your party." He quickly cleared his throat. "I hope that's ok."

"Oh my gosh, you're Rhea Stark." Liz's eyes widened.

"Yeah, that's me." Rhea nodded. She hated that on earth she could not use her surname Lokisdaughter, but it was necessary. "Spidey couldn't make it, Avenger business and all, so I said I'd fill in for him. Plus Peter is one of my best friends and I couldn't leave him hanging. Hope that's ok."

"Yeah, totally. Please come in." Liz nodded and stood out of the way gesturing for them to come in.

"When I say "penis," you say "Parker." - Penis! - Parker! - Penis! – Parker." Flash was still at it as they walked inside.

"Wow, is he still on that? Obsession much." Rhea muttered then looked to Liz. "Is that moron your DJ?"

"Yeah…" Liz glanced in embarrassment toward Peter. "Sorry Peter."

"It's fine." Peter assured her weakly.

"What a douche." Rhea said and started to make her way through the crowd. "Be right back."

"Where's she going?" Liz asked Peter.

"I don't know." Peter shook his head.

"AL, hack his DJ systems for me and turn it off." Rhea smiled as Flash's gear came to a sudden stop causing a lot of disappointment. Rhea leapt up onto the stage and leaning against Flash's system as he tried to get it back up and running. "You know you're not doing that right?"

"And what would you know about?" Flash snapped at her.

"Quite a lot actually." Rhea mocked him as he along with the rest of the crowd recognized her.

"Rhea Stark." Flash's jaw dropped.

"One and only." Rhea turned to the crowd. "Now as I understand it Peter said Spiderman was coming tonight, but as you know the life of a hero leaves very little in the way of down time. He sends his regrets to you all."

"You mean Penis Parker really does know Spiderman?" Flash said in disdain.

"Him and many of the other Avengers, yes." Rhea nodded. "And please stop using Penis as a derogatory term, it is a piece of male anatomy and not a very intelligent insult."

"I just call it like I see it." Flash said smugly.

"If I wanted to kill myself I would climb to the top of your ego and jump to your IQ." Rhea rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"What?" Flash's brows furrowed.

"I just called you an idiot Eugene." Rhea sighed.

"Hey!" Flash snapped. "My names Flash now, no Eugene." He tried to be menacing as he pointed at her. "And you better remember that."

"Oh I'll remember it." Rhea nodded sarcastically. "That's all I'm going to do the rest of my life is go around remembering the nick name you made up for yourself."

"Are you trying to be smart with me?" He growled. "Do you know who my family is?"

"I know them, but I know you know my family as well, so what's your point?" Rhea crossed her arms.

"Whatever! Good luck having a party without a DJ, I'm blowing the boring burg." Flash jumped off the stage and left, a few of his crony's reluctantly going with him.

"Wonderful, now…" Rhea clapped her hands together, not at all bothered by his leaving while everyone else just starred in shock at the turn of events. "How about we really get this party going?"

Rhea took over the DJ stand, plugging in AL through her phone into the system. Rhea pulled out her Fall Put Boy Light Em' Up Dubstep. She was a fan of theirs amongst many other artist covering an ocean of various genres. Moving her fingers along the key board and bringing up a holo-turntable from her phone curtesy of Al she was able to really get the party rocking.

She jumped and danced with the crowd as she worked the DJ stand. She smiled out over the crowd taking it all in. It was amazing to be out amongst kids her own age outside of Asgard and Shuri. It was not that she liked them any less, it was just when she was on earth she always felt separated from them somehow.

She put AL on Dj mode after a few songs wanting to mingle a bit herself not having a lot of contact with kids her age. She danced with the crowd which consisted mostly of just jumping up and down to the beat of the songs, happy to see Peter and Liz talking together. She stopped to dance a few songs with Ned who was absolutely awesome in her book.

"I'm just saying Han was a smuggler, out for his own good." Rhea called out to Ned over the music. "I would not put it past him to have shot first."

"No way, Greedo totally took the first shot." Ned denied. "Lucas always said that that was how he intended the scene to go from the beginning."

"Not according to the earlier draft scripts." Rhea pointed out. They went back and forth with this debate for a bit longer before going their separate ways. Rhea slipped into the kitchen grabbing a bottle of water and chugging it down.

"So you're Stark's grandkid huh?" A girl addressed her. She was a lovely young lady with curly dark brown hair, was on the taller side much like Rhea, and had intelligent brown eyes.

"Yep." Rhea nodded eyeing the girl, then held out her hand with a smile. "Name's Rhea."

"Michelle." Michelle shook her hand. "You came here to bail out Parker."

"Yeah, when Spidey couldn't show I said I'd step in." Rhea shrugged. "Might not be a hero and only famous by family association, but I seem to be doing the trick." Rhea smiled for a few pictures holding up a peace sign. Rhea looked to the book in Michelle's hand, nodding to it in interest. "What are you reading?"

"Of Human Bondage." Michelle replied dryly.

"Never read it, what's it about?" Rhea asked leaning against the counter. Michelle looked at her searchingly for a moment to see if she was serious and when satisfied went into a brief summary of the book. Rhea took out her phone bringing the book up and downloading it right away. "Sounds good."

"You're going to read it?" Michelle looked surprised.

"Yeah, seems interesting." Rhea shrugged. "Have you ever read 'To Kill a Mockingbird.'?"

"It's a classic." Michelle nodded and for a time they set discussing the book merits, both positive and negative. She had just returned to the DJ stand when she felt her phone vibrating.

"Uh oh." Rhea read the caller ID. "Think I can get away with not answering AL?"

"Not really doll, he'll just hack your phone to answer or send one of his suits after you." AL replied.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Rhea sighed stepping out onto the back porch. "If I acted like I just woke up would you believe me?"

"You had better have a very good reason for not being home." Tony said lowly.

"I really do." Rhea related what she overheard over Peter's phone call. "So I had to come and plus I met some really nice people here, it's nice to be around kids my own age."

"It's great you stood up for Peter, but you're still grounded." Tony said sternly.

"I understand and accept these conditions." Rhea nodded. "As soon as the party is over I will confine myself to my room."

"I actually meant you need to go home now." Tony sighed.

"Going through a tunnel, I'll be out of it around twelve when Aunt May come to pick up Peter and his friend." Rhea replied.

"Fine, but that grounding is going to have strict non-fun guidelines." Tony told her.

"Got it." Rhea smiled knowing that Tony wouldn't be able to keep up with her punishment, he never could before.

"Don't think this is an empty threat, I'm bringing in the big guns." Tony warned her.

"You wouldn't…." Rhea gasped.

"That's right, I'm telling Pepper." Tony said smugly.

"You tell Pepper and I'll tell her about the jello pool." Rhea shot back.

"That's cold." Tony said lowly.

"All's fair." Rhea grinned. "But I'm willing to deal, how's one week?"

"Fine." Tony agreed. "Get home safe."

"Will do." Rhea hung up and headed back into the party.


	3. Chapter 3

Rhea sat with her Uncle Vision and Uncle Rhodey watching the Justice League movie in the theatre room. Rhea liked this movie for one main reason, Jason Momoa. She had met him, the luck of being a Stark, and had loved every moment of spending time with him.

"You'd think that they got enough of this in real life." Rhodey commented.

"Yeah." Rhea shrugged catching a piece of popcorn in her mouth.

"I find that it is a coping method for the things they see in life. This way they can analyze it and separates themselves from the events of their real life." Vision commented casually, Rhea and Rhodey glancing at him form the corner of their eyes.

"Right." Rhodey drew out.

"Wish we had an Aquaman." Rhea commented.

"I wouldn't say no to a Wonder Woman myself." Rhodey nodded.

"Don't let Auntie Nat hear you say that." Rhea pointed out with a smirk that turned into a frown when she remembered her family's situation. Rhodey and Vision looked at her in concern knowing that this separation amongst them was taking a toll on her.

"Hey Rhea?" Rhodey spoke up.

"Yeah?" Rhea glanced at him.

"Not that I don't like spending time with you, but why don't you ever go out and hang out with kids your own age?" Rhodey asked.

"Because my grandfather is Iron Man and has protective issues." Rhea said nonchalantly. "Plus the whole vetting thing, who wants to know me compared to those who want what I have through me."

"Good point." Rhodey frowned.

"But it's not all bad. I have a good friend named Shuri that I talk with over the internet, Peter and Ned are well on the way to becoming friends with me and then there's Michelle who seemed really cool. I'm getting there, no worries." Rhea glanced down at her phone when it started to buzz urgently. Eyebrows furrowing she rocked to her feet and headed down the hall furiously typing away on the screen. "I got to take this, be right back."

"Perhaps Rhea would be more apt to making connections with people of her age group were she to attend school." Vision mused as Rhodey nodded.

"I'll talk with Pepper and see if we can't team up against Tony on this." Rhodey proposed.

-0-

The phone to Peter and Ned's motel room rang out causing them both to jump. Glancing at each other Peter slowly picked up the phone clearing his throat before answering.

"Hello?" Peter asked.

"Do you know how lucky you are right now?" Rhea asked, an electrical sound in the background.

"Uh...I don't know…" Peter glanced at Ned.

"I had to do some freaky fast and creative hacking in order to incept the fact that you hacked your suit before Grandpa found out." Rhea told him bluntly. "What the heck is going on Parker?"

"I'm going after the vulture guy, I need to stop him." Peter told her.

"I'm sure that there are people taking care of this Pete, no worries." Rhea tried.

"I can't sit by and do nothing, I can do this." Peter argued and Rhea let out a long suffering sigh.

"Fine, but you better not get killed or worse." Rhea muttered.

"What could be worse than dying?" Peter asked.

"Grandpa finding out and killing both of us." Rhea answered dryly.

"I'll do my best." Peter promised, then she heard him talking to someone. "Ned says hi by the way."

"Tell him I said hey back." Rhea smiled. "Oh and ask about the death star lego set!"

"Guys, I would love to be the go between on your conversation, but I have a bird to cage." Peter pointed out.

"Right, nice euphemism by the way. Adam West Batman would be proud." Rhea smiled with a chuckle. "Good luck Peter, you'll be great."

"Thanks for believing in me Rhea." Peter replied.

"What are friends for?" Rhea ventured carefully.

"Really?" She heard Ned over the phone. "We're friends?"

"Is that's ok with you and Peter?" Rhea bit her lip.

"Of course it is." Peter answered right away.

"We should all totally go hang out after all this." Ned cheered.

"Sounds great." Rhea was practically bouncing. "I'll catch you guy's later, bye."

"Bye Rhea." They both said before hanging up. Rhea let out a happy cheer as she fist pumped and jumped around her room. She spun around stopping short and almost falling over when she saw Pepper standing in her doorway looking amused.

"Good news I presume." She commented.

"Yeah, I just made friends with Peter and his friend Ned." Rhea ginned.

"That's great Rhea. He's the Spiderboy Tony's been working with right?" Pepper asked.

"Spider-Man, but yeah, that's him." Rhea nodded.

"Right, Spider-Man." Pepper took note of the way Rhea's cheeks pinked. "Mind if I come in?"

"Sure." Rhea nodded gesturing to her couch where Pepper took a seat, Rhea taking a seat at her high-tech drafting desk. "What can I do for you?"

"I was talking with Rhodey and Vision, we were wondering if you'd like to attend school here on earth." Pepper offered and Rhea felt her smile double in size.

-0-

Rhea whacked the ball as hard as she could letting it hit the wall and ricochet at her opponent. Racquet ball was one of her favorite sports, but she took it to a whole other level. One of her grandfather's suit returned the ball smacking it hard. She ran out the wall and kicked off allowing her to leap into the air to hit the ball again, but the Iron Man suit was quick to return, hovering up into the air to hit the ball. Rhea sent a blast of magic down to propel her into the air to make her hit when AL stopped the game shutting down the suit.

"What gives AL?" Rhea landed with a pout.

"You better see this." AL brought up some screens from the suit and Rhea's eyes doubled in size upon seeing the news report on trouble on a ferry saying that Spiderman was present on the scnene.

"Oh…" Rhea ran out of the room running as fast as she could down the halls straight into Tony's lab. "Grandpa!"

"What's up kiddo?" Tony looked up from his work at her.

"Trouble in the harbor, Peter's there and reports just came in about a flying bird man." Rhea said quickly.

Tony muttered a curse under his breath calling his suit to him while laying out a plan with Friday before taking off out the window with Rhea right behind him, snapping her fingers forming her Hex suit. They came on the scene just in time to see a blast of purple light cut the boat in half. Tony called up some back up with rockets that pushed and help hold the ferry together.

Rhea jumped to into the ferry grabbing up people before they could fall into the gap and using her magic to help Tony seal it all back together. She looked up and could see Peter following Tony around as he worked trying to make up for what had happened.

"AL, talk to me, how many more civies in trouble?" Shaking her head she concentrated on the people that needed her.

"You're good kid, everyone is safe and sound." AL replied. "Friday says your gramps is calling for you though."

"What's up Gramps?" Rhea asked over their comm.

"Stay with the ferry, make sure it gets to harbor ok while I deal with the kid." Tony ordered.

"Hey Grandpa, maybe go easy on him." Rhea said hesitantly.

"Rhea, he nearly got everyone on this boat killed." Tony grit out.

"I know, I know that, but he's new to this whole thing, maybe he needs some one on one training instead of just letting him go loose." Rhea offered. "I could help a bit, maybe bring in Uncle Rhodey or Uncle Vis…."

"No, no more chances, this is too big." Tony was really angry. "As soon as that boat is safe you get home, got it?"

"Yeah Gramps, see you later at home." Rhea gave in knowing it was no use.

"Civvies might be safe, but I think that hero of yours is in big trouble." AL commented.

"Al, he's not my hero." Rhea blushed.

"Keep telling yourself that kid." AL mocked.

-0-

Rhea walked toward where she knew her grandpa was hanging out, working out his frustrations over Peter in his lab. She was once again wishing her parents were there to give her some advice, but Asgard was facing some serious trouble that needed their attention, apparently her Grandfather was MIA and her Uncle Thor was off on some sort of quest. Rhea typed in the lab code and walked in, the loud sounds of ACDC filling the room up.

"Hey Friday, can you lower the volume?" Rhea requested as loud as she could to be heard.

"Gladly." Friday replied and the music turned down.

"Hey." Tony glanced up from his work.

"Hey nothing, you're going to blow your eardrums young man." Rhea came over taking a seat across the work table from him. "I don't know what your generation is coming to."

"Oh you know, drugs, alcohol, heavy metal…" Tony shrugged glancing over at her. "So is this social visit or…"

"I think you should give Peter another chance." Rhea came straight out.

"Not happening." Tony said shortly.

"Grandpa, it was a mistake, he thought he was doing the right thing." Rhea tried.

"He could have killed a lot of people Rhea." Tony set his tools aside.

"I know, but it really wasn't completely his fault." Rhea pointed out and nearly wilted under the look Tony leveled at her.

"Excuse me." Tony straightened up.

"Well he's had no training and half the time no one is even listening to him. I mean Happy is a great guy, but he ignores Peter and hardly even answers his calls." Rhea took a deep breath. "And don't take this the wrong way, but you're pretty paranoid."

"Paranoid? I'm trying to protect him." Tony argued. "He's not ready."

"Grandpa, you're so worried he'll make the mistakes that you made that you act like we already made them." Rhea leaned forward. "You should have told him that you had set up a sting operation just to let him know that you were taking him seriously? As far as he knew the information he gave was ignored and not taken seriously, he thought nothing was going to be done about it."

"Rhea, Peter put himself and the people of that boat in real danger." Tony said seriously. "You just don't understand that kind of pressure."

"You don't think I understand about pressure?" Rhea tilted her head to the side, her eyes flashing.

"You don't get what it's like to have the whole world on your shoulders and if I struggle with it there's no way a kid his age can handle it." Tony said and Rhea felt something in her snap.

"Really!? Try having two worlds on your shoulders." Rhea crossed her arms.

"Rhea, this is not about that, you don't really have to worry about protecting earth or asgard." Tony waved her off and that was the exact wrong thing to do.

"Oh no you did not." Rhea stood straight up, her chair falling behind her. "I don't have to worry? Me? Worry is all I get to do half the time." Rhea shook her head. "You just do not get it! Do you have any idea what it's like to be me or Peter?! To be able to do what we can at our age?!"

"Don't give me that 'you don't understand my generation' excuse." Tony cut in. "You're not the only one going through what you're going through."

"Oh really? Is that so? Well let's think about this. I am the daughter of immortal mutant superhero Vanessa Stark, who is the daughter of billionaire genius Tony Stark aka Iron man, and my father is Loki, Norse God of Mischief, and the man who under mind control tried to take over the world, one of my uncles is the Norse god of thunder and the other is an android, my grandparents on my father's side are the Odin and Frigga, the King and Queen of Asgard, oh and let's not forget that my fraternal grandparents were the freaking King and Queen of Jotunheim! Not to mention my extended family which is the assemblage of earth's greatest heroes!" Rhea really started to lose it as she went on, all of her pent up feeling come out in one giant burst.

"Rhea…" Tony tried, but she was too far gone into her rant.

"I am an heiress on earth, a princess of two worlds, part jotunn, part human, part Asier, demigoddess, teenage girl who wants nothing more than to have a taste of a normal life, to escape all of the pressure of having to live up to all that was set before me!" Rhea slammed her fists down denting the metal table. "But instead I'm hedged in, always told it's too dangerous for me. I can't go out shopping or eating or to make friends because on Agard they're wary of me and on earth I'm nothing more than Iron Mans granddaughter." Rhea looked up at Tony. "People like me and Peter, we have these abilities, these hopes and dreams, but no one to listen to us or take us seriously then when everything goes to heck we take the blame instead of those who should have been helping us. What's going to happen to the world when the old generation of heroes are gone and the new generation are not ready?"

Rhea shook her head turning on her heel and left a stunned Tony behind her.


	4. Chapter 4

Rhea followed AL's directions, flying over Queens dressed in an army green wool coat that reached down to her knees with an oversized hood pulled up over her head. Under it she wore a long sleeved scooped neck black shirt, a green plaid pleated skirt, black tights, and black knee high boots. She denied many times over that she was dressing up for Peter when AL commented on her dressing up and taking so much time to pick out an outfit.

She soon came to the correct apartment complex and slipped down to Peter's window after doing a quick scan to see which was the right one, didn't want to get that mixed up. She carefully peeked into his window glad that he wasn't in the middle of changing or something, but saddened when she saw him sitting on the edge of his bed with his face buried in his hands.

She knocked on the window just loud enough to get his attention causing him to jump slightly. He glanced around until his eyes landed on the window, widening in surprise to see Rhea smiling and waving at him. He scrambled over to her and quickly opened the window offering her and to help her inside.

"Thank you Peter." Rhea smiled brightly at him.

"What…what are you doing here?" He glanced nervously at his bedroom door.

"I came to see how you're doing." Rhea placed her hands into her pockets with a shrug.

"Horribly, I'm doing horribly." Peter collapsed back on his bed running his hands through his hair.

"I'm sorry about all this Peter." Rhea sat down next to him.

"I just wanted to help and make a difference." Peter sighed. "I want to do so much, but no one will let me. It's like I had that one brief time as a real Avenger, a real hero, in Germany and then…"

"You're stuck back on the sidelines." Rhea finished for him.

"Yeah." Peter nodded, looking down at the floor.

"You know the only time I ever get to go out and be Hex is when I being chaperoned by my grandpa or one of my uncles." Rhea commented. "I never got to go out on my own like you do. My grandpa really has a lot of faith in you."

"Don't you mean 'did'?" Peter frowned.

"Peter, on that ship today, a lot of people were put in danger…." Rhea started.

"I know that." Peter sighed in agitation, but Rhea held up her hand to stop him.

"But you know what scared my grandpa the most? What could have happened to you." Rhea said, causing Peter to pause. "He really cares about you and at times he can be overbearing about it, but in the end he comes around. Just go out and do what you were doing before you got the fancy suit, I mean, it never held you back before, being in your old uniform."

"It's a little embarrassing to have to go back to that." Peter mumbled.

"Yeah, well, we're not heroes for the glamour, we're heroes for the people." Rhea replied patting him on the shoulder.

"Yeah." Peter hung his head again.

"I'll keep talking to my grandpa, he'll come around." Rhea said encouragingly.

"Rhea, why….I mean…why did you…." Peter stuttered out trying not to sound insulting.

"Because the world needs Spiderman." Rhea walked over placing her hands on his shoulders. "And more than that, it needs Peter Parker." She pressed a quick kiss to his cheek causing his face to erupt. "I'll see you around Pete."

Rhea left through the window, Peter walking over to it watching her go, his fingers reaching up to brush where she'd kissed him.

-0-

Rhea watched as Peter came up to the facility taking it all in. It was quite impressive for a first time viewer with its personnel scurrying about and the quin-jets flying overhead. Rhea watched as Peter stepped inside with Happy who had driven him in.

"You don't see that every day." Happy commented to Peter as they watched a quin-jet fly off.

"Unless you live here, then it's pretty normal." Rhea walked over to Peter and Happy. She was wearing a black pencil skirt that reached her knees, a loose white V-neck blouse tucked into the skirt, an olive green field jacket, and a pair of black booties.

"Rhea." Peter smiled brightly.

"Hey Peter." Rhea smiled bringing the flustered boy into a hug before stepping back. "I'm glad you're ok and congratulations on taking out the bad guy."

"Thanks Rhea." Peter smiled.

"Don't get any funny ideas." Happy placed a strong grip on Peter's shoulder.

"Ignore him, my family is just a little over protective of me." Rhea rolled her eyes. "I heard about Liz as well, I'm sorry."

"It's alright." Peter shrugged with a sad smile. "She and her mom, they needed to get away."

"Oh, there they are." Tony said loudly as he came between Peter and Rhea, giving his granddaughter a side hug. "How was the ride up?"

"Good." Peter answered.

"Give me a minute with the kid." Tony told Happy and Rhea

"Seriously?" Happy scoffed.

"Yeah." Tony answered. "I gotta talk to the kid."

"I'll be close behind." Happy replied.

"How about a loose follow?" Tony suggested. "All right? Boundaries are good." Tony pointed at Rhea. "Stay with us, going to need you in a second."

"Got it." Rhea fell into step with them.

"Sorry I took your suit." Tony said then looked thoughtful. "You had it coming. Actually, it turns out it was...the perfect tough-love moment that you needed." He ignored the scoff her heard from Rhea. "To urge you on, right? Wouldn't you think? Don't you think?"

"I guess." Peter shrugged.

"Let's just say it was." Tony said.

"Mr. Stark, I really…" Peter tried.

"You screwed the pooch hard, bigtime. But then you did the right thing. Took the dog to the free clinic, you raised the hybrid puppies..." Tony tried to bring it all together, but no luck.

"Subject change." Rhea cut in. "You're freaking Peter out, and me, you're really freaking me out."

"All right, not my best analogy." Tony allowed, rolling his shoulders. "I was wrong about you." Tony glanced at Rhea. "I think, with a little more mentoring...you could be a real asset to the team."

"To the…? To the team?" Peter echoed.

"Yeah. Anyway..." Tony stopped beside some double doors. "...there's about 50 reporters behind that door. Real ones, not bloggers. When you're ready...why don't you try that on?" Tony revealed the iron spider man suit. "And I'll introduce the world to the newest official member of the Avengers: Spider-Man."

"'Can…" Peter looked at the suit wide eyed.

"Yeah, give that a look." Tony nodded. "After the press conference, Rhea will show you to your room...your new quarters."

"Where's he between?" Rhea asked looking it up on her phone. "Oh, he's next to Uncle Vision." Rhea winced before quickly covering it up with a smile. "He's not big on doors, general warning."

"It's fun." Tony assured.

"Or walls." Rhea went on.

"You'll fit right in." Tony pressed on.

"Thank you, Mr. Stark." Peter said stepping back. "But I'm good."

"You're good? Good-?" Tony echoed. "How are you good?"

"Well, I mean, I'd rather just stay on the ground for a little while." Peter replied, blushing when he saw Rhea's smile. "Friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Somebody's got to look out for the little guy, right?"

"You're turning me down? You better think about this." Tony said gesturing to the suit and then himself. "Look at that. Look at me. Look at her." He pointed to Rhea then quickly changed his mind. "Second thought don't look at her. Off limits." Tony winced when Rhea popped him on the shoulder to get him to focus. "Last chance. Yes or no?"

"No." Peter answered.

"Okay. It's kind of a Springsteen-y, working-class hero vibe that I dig." Tony nodded. "Happy will take you home."

"Yeah?" Peter smiled.

"Yeah." Tony nodded. "Mind waiting in the car? I need a minute."

"Thank you, Mr. Stark." Peter started to walk away.

"Yes, Mr. Parker, very well." Tony nodded.

"Sorry, right, I mean…" Peter stopped short turning to Rhea. "It was nice to see you again Rhea."

"You to Peter." Rhea waved. "Maybe we can hang out some time. Grandpa's always saying I should get out more."

"That would be great." Peter smiled then glanced nervously at Tony. "I mean if its's alright with you Mr. Stark."

"I suppose." Tony drawled. "About time you made some friends on earth anyway."

"Earth?" Peter echoed noticing the glare Rhea shot her grandfather who looked away pointedly, like a child in trouble.

"That's just his funny way of saying I don't get out much." Rhea quickly replied.

"Okay." Peter eyed them then came to a realization. "That was a test, right? There's nobody back there?"

"Yes, you passed." Tony quickly jumped at the idea. "All right, skedaddle there, young buck."

"Thank you, Mr. Stark." Peter grinned.

"Yeah, thank you." Tony watched him go. "Told you he's a good kid."

"He is." Rhea agreed. "Cute to."

"Nope." Tony shook his head.

"Not sure you get a say in it." Rhea replied, humming lightly.

"As long as you're on planet earth you are under my jurisdiction and I say no." Tony shot back, trying to be stern, but failing miserably.

"We'll see." Rhea said in a sing song voice.

"We will not." Tony shook his head and the argument would have continued if it wasn't for Pepper.

"Where's the kid?" Pepper came in through the doors, the press talking behind her in the other room waiting for the big announcement.

"He left." Rhea told her, pointing the way Peter had gone. "And it was all Grandpa's fault."

"Traitor." Tony grumbled.

"Everybody's waiting." Pepper came out all the way shooting Tony a glare.

"He actually made a mature choice." Tony said straightened up. "It just surprised the heck out of us."

"Did you really screw this up?" Pepper narrowed her eyes.

"He told the kid to go wait in the car." Happy supplied, Rhea nodding her head in agreement.

"Et tu Happy?" Tony placed a hand over his heart in fake shock.

"Are you kidding?" Pepper snapped. "I have a room full of people in there waiting...for some big announcement. What will I tell them? Think of something. How about...?"

"Hap, you still got that ring?" Tony asked quickly.

"Do I- ? I- ?" Happy stuttered.

"I'm calling mom!" Rhea took out her phone quickly dialing up her parents.

"The engagement ring." Tony said.

"Are you kidding? I've been carrying this since 2008." Happy dug out the ring.

"Okay." Pepper tried. "I think I can think of something better than that."

"Well, it would buy us a little time." Tony replied as Rhea was talking excitedly into the phone. "Like we need time."

"Mom's on her way, dad says about time." Rhea grinned.

"Of course he did." Tony rolled his eyes.

"I can't believe you had that in your pocket." Pepper shook her head.

"Want me to get the door for you, hon?" Tony asked.

"I got it." Pepper said as they stepped inside, flashing lights from cameras going off as the crowd awaited the big announcement with baited breath.


	5. Chapter 5

When Peter had gotten the summons from Stark to come back to the facility he'd been nervous that he'd done something wrong again. He wracked his brain trying to think of what he could have done, but nothing came to mind. As Happy pulled up the front of the building Peter hoped that Rhea would be there.

"Hey, you going to get out anytime soon?" Happy called out breaking Peter from his thoughts.

"Yeah, sure, sorry…" Peter stumbled out of the car making his way up to the front doors. Happy led him down some halls until they came to where Tony was coming out of his lab.

"Peter, glad you could make it." Tony clapped Peter on the back.

"No problem Mr. Stark." Peter nodded. "What's going on, I mean what'd you call me for?"

"I think it's time you started to get some training for your suit and I've set you up with an excellent teacher." Tony guided him into a large state of the art gym.

"You?" Peter guessed.

"Nope." Tony replied and gestured to the center of a training mat. Peter did a double take when he saw.

Rhea wearing a long sleeved grey and pink stripped off the shoulder thin sweater, a pair of grey yoga pants, and pink tennis shoes. She was on the cycle speeding through the course on the screen in front of her with her earbuds blasting her favorite mix of Alexander Rybak and Lindsey Stirling. The exercise bike must have been supped up by Tony or Rhea herself considering how fast and hard she was going on it.

"Rhea." Tony called out, but Rhea didn't hear him. Sighing to himself he walked up behind her grabbing her sides making her startle. With a yelp she fell sideways to the ground with a thud. Peter rushed over to them.

"What's the big idea?!" Rhea pulled the buds from her ears.

"Just thought you'd like to greet Peter." Tony gestured over to where Peter was hovering awkwardly next to Tony.

"Oh, hey Peter." Rhea hopped to her feet holding out her hand to Peter.

"Hey Rhea." Peter stuttered, fumbling to shake her hand. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine." Rhea waved off his worry.

"Are you getting trained to?" Peter asked.

"Nope." Rhea shook her head. "I'm the one training you."

"What?" Peter said in surprise then realized how it sounded. "Sorry, I just wasn't…"

"You weren't expecting me to be your trainer." Rhea nodded. "Yeah, well don't let my age fool you, I've had extensive training in combat and in technology." Rhea crossed her arms. "That suit you turned down, did you know that I helped make that."

"It was an awesome suit." Peter said quickly as Rhea hummed, eyeing his with a raised brow. "It really was and I would have loved to use it, but I just wasn't ready."

"I guess I can forgive you Peter." Rhea smiled letting Peter know she was kidding.

"I'll leave you two to it." Tony started for the door, pausing for a moment. "And let it be known Friday is watching everything with orders to alert me if you two get up to something…untoward."

"Of course sir, I would never…" Peter stumbled glancing over at Rhea who raised a brow. "I mean not that I think there's anything wrong with you, you're awesome…" Tony cleared his throat. "I respect all women and their armor bearing grandfathers."

"There you go." Tony nodded with one last look before leaving.

"So what kind of fighting training do you have?" Rhea asked crossing her arms.

"Um…" He shifted. "I just kind of go on instinct."

"Well not anymore." Rhea announced then noticed Peter's apprehension. "Come on Pete, think about it. If you're already this good based on instinct and self learning just imagine how awesome you'd be with some training!" Rhea grinned and Peter nodded along, seeing what she was getting at. "Plus the faster you make it through boot camp the faster we can move on to your suits weapon capabilities."

"Wait, boot camp?" Peter asked.

"Think of it like advanced PE." Rhea clapped her hands together. "Drop and give me a hundred push ups."

Peter thought for a fleeting moment about arguing, but he knew that Rhea wouldn't let him win, the look in her eyes alone told him that. He got into position, glancing over at Rhea who was going the same.

"What are you doing?" Peter asked.

"I'm not going to make you do all this stuff alone." Rhea scoffed and started her hundred, Peter still starring at her. "I won't wait up for you though, so you better get to it."

"Oh, right." Peter started up and they went through a whole warm up schedule of Rhea's creation that had him sweating by the end.

Then it was on to what she called the Trial which was a maze/guatlet, a series of ever changing pathways that always had something new to throw at an opponent. They had started using it to train new recruits and had different level setting, very few having been able to beat the whole system.

It was all set up below the Avengers Facility underground consisting of a series of tests that ranged in danger levels. They tested physical attributes, mental capabilities, and stress tests. To make it fair the whole thing was randomly chosen depending on the persons capabilities with a little added to improve their skill and all of it was monitored by FRIDAY as well as AL when Rhea was using it.

"This will give me an idea of where you're at and what you need to improve on." Rhea told him as she showed him the Trial from above on the catwalks. "It's not that the maze as a whole changes it's just that each section is never the same as before. Thanks to my grandpa's holographic projectors we are able to keep it fresh without having to expand it." Rhea pointed to where three recruits were stealthily making their way down what seemed to be an office corridor. They had their guns raised and were checking every room they passed for the enemy. "They're currently dealing with a hostage situation."

"Can they see us?" Peter asked.

"Nah, they look up they just see a ceiling." Rhea said right before the team found the door they were looking for and broke in only for a colorful explosion to go off. "Booby trap, the Trial is non-lethal, but that doesn't mean it's safe, injuries have been known to happen." They watched as the smoke was cleared as the trial was ended and the team hobbled out covered in blue powder. "Most weapon fire is either powder or paintball at this level and for the hardcore like Captain Rogers and Un..." Rhea cleared her throat. "I mean Thor, live ammo can be used."

"Whoah." Peter's eyes widened.

"Don't worry, everyone has to start at the beginner's level to give the machine time to calibrate to your needs, so it's pretty easy at first." Rhea assured him. "Now in you get."

"Ok." Peter walked down the stairs taking a step into the maze. "Hey Rhea, did you ever see that movie about the guy with the wild hair and the girl who wishes her brother away?"

"Yeah, Labyrinth, why?" Rhea asked as she brought up a holographic screen and started to type in some commands.

"Is this like that?" He asked.

"Yes." Rhea typed away, adding a few surprises.

"Really?" Peter sounded surprised.

"No, more like Pan's Labyrinth." Rhea replied the program started up and Peter was put into a situation.

"Wait, what?" Peter looked around at the video game like dungeon setting he was in.

"Good luck!" She watched him as he made his way through the obstacle course easily deflecting and avoiding every attack to what he had dubbed as his 'Spidey-Sense'. "Hey AL, make a note to find a way to disrupt Spidey-sense."

"Got it kid." Al replied. "He's doing pretty good."

"Yeah, he is." Rhea smiled as she watched Peter dodge the basic big boss minions.

"Careful, if your gramps sees that lovey dovey look on your face you may be looking at a squished bug." AL teased causing Rhea to flush.

"Would you stop doing that?" Rhea turned her attention back on her readings. "I'm not looking at him any differently than any other boy."

"Yeah, sure." AL scoffed. Rhea rolled her eyes in retaliation, but couldn't help the small glances she sent towards Peter from time to time.

-0-

Rhea stood on the edge of a building in Queens next to Peter, both of them suited up as Hex and Spiderman respectively. Neither had their masks on, enjoying the night breeze as they talked, waiting to see if they were needed.

"So just do what you usually do and then we'll go from there." Rhea said as she typed into her arm band.

"Right, got it." Peter nodded.

"Loosen up Pete, we've been monitoring you through your suit for a while, this is just for me to get some firsthand information." Rhea grinned.

"That's a little creepy." Peter commented.

"Yeah...by the way, love the Thor impression." Rhea chuckled.

"You saw that?" Peter gaped at her.

"Oh yeah, very funny." Rhea nodded as Peter's face went red.

"Oh man." He groaned.

"Don't worry about it. You're not the only one to go around playing Avenger." Rhea giggled.

"Oh really, who'd you dress up as?" Peter asked.

"What? Me? No, I never did that, I lived with them..." Rhea was cut off as her wrist band lit up and a picture of her dressed as various members of the team starting with her younger years and moving forward. "AL!"

"Oops, sorry." AL commented as she tried to hide the pictures.

"You look so cute." Peter laughed as Rhea finally got the pictures to close.

"Enjoy your update AL." Rhea pressed a few buttons ignoring AL's protest as the update went into effect.

"I really liked you as Captain America." Peter chuckled.

"Yeah, about broke my grandpa's ego that Halloween." Rhea smiled a bit, looking a little sad.

"You must miss them, the other Avengers." Peter said gently.

"They were...are my family." Rhea rubbed her arms. "Being without them hurts."

Rhea's head was bowed and she looked so sad. Peter reached out a few times trying to decide between an arm around her shoulders or if he should just pat her on the back. Before he could there was an alert through Karen of an armed break in at local pawn shop.

"Do I...should I...?" Peter gestured, unsure.

"Yeah Pete, take the lead and I'll follow." Rhea nodded as she pulled up her hood and when she looked to Peter her Venician mask was in place.

Peter pulled on his mask and shot off a line before swinging off the building with Rhea flying after him. The pawn shop was a little out of the way place and inside were a few armed men gathering what they could into their backpacks. Rhea followed Peter as he casually leaned against the door frame the robbers had broken through.

"So is this like American Pickers Thieves addition or what?" Peter asked gaining their attention, their weapons instantly training in on him. Rhea recognized one of Toomes guns that they were still tracking down. It was a sleek silver job that was pulsing different shades of blue on the tip and sides.

"Just back off Spider or you and your girl are finished." The man gestured with the strange gun.

"Oh, then by all means, we'll just leave and let you get on with you felony." Rhea rolled her eyes before all heck broke loose, the thugs putting up a valiant albeit useless fight.

The Rhea saw it out of the corner of her eye, one of the men pointed the strange gun at Peter who was distracted by the other thugs, Rhea stepped in ready to deflect it, but a cold beam was the last thing she expected. Holding up her hand she easily held it back, but the effects were crawling up her arm changing her skin blue and her eyes red. When the man let off on the gun Rhea returned with an ice blast of her own freezing him to a wall as Peter tied up the rest. They quickly made their way out of the store, Karen calling the cops who were in route.

"Wow, I didn't know you could do that." Peter was amazed as they landed on the building opposite the pawn shop.

"Yeah, just one of my tricks." Rhea turned away trying to will her fingers which were the only visible body part she had to worry about Peter seeing, other than her eyes.

"Are you ok?" Peter tried to get around her to face her, but she avoided his gaze and his her hands in her pockets.

"I have to go home." Rhea quickly took off without another word leaving behind a confused Peter. She booked it straight to her room just as AL came back online.

"Hey, what happened to the stakeout? Was I out that long?" AL asked realizing they were back home.

Rhea ignored him as she walked over to her mirror taking off her hood and mask revealing her Jotun face covered in raised lines, her eyes blood red, and her teeth now sharp. It wasn't that she was ashamed of it, in fact she thought it was pretty cool, but it raised a lot of questions about her parentage that she didn't want Peter asking.

"Ok, deep breath, in and out." Rhea said to herself as she focused on reverting to her asier/human form, the blue slowly changing to ivory.

"You know you're going to have to tell him sometime kid." AL commented when Rhea had completely changed back.

"Maybe..." Rhea stared down at her hands. "I just don't want to choose."

"Choose what?" AL asked.

"Between my father and Peter." Rhea sighed.


	6. Chapter 6

Peter and Rhea circled one another in the ring, their fists held at the ready while Happy watched with his arms folded trying to ignore his itching throat. Despite not really needing it or wanting it for that matter they were each wearing protective boxing gear including gloves.

"I don't want any of those fancy gymnastic moves you two. This is straight up boxing." Happy warned once again. "Trying to teach you two how to throw a punch, not join the circus."

"You say that like it's a bad thing Happy." Rhea commented throwing a few quick jabs that Peter dodged. "I for one think it would be pretty cool to runaway to the circus."

"What would you be?" Peter asked delivering a few jabs himself catching Rhea in the side.

"Keep your arms up." Happy called out and Rhea did so.

"What wouldn't I be? All of it sounds like fun, but I lean towards lion tamer or elephant trainer." Rhea said with a gleam in her eye. "What about you?"

"Acrobat or the high wire." Peter said right away, catching Rhea in the side of the head, but she returned with a punch to the gut. Both of them had learned that neither of them really needed to hold back when sparring and it was a great feeling to let go.

"Can you two focus?" Happy said in annoyance.

"We are focused." Peter replied.

"Yeah, just not on fighting." Rhea bounced around a bit trying to faint to the left, but Peter saw through the deception.

"There is not conversations during fighting." Happy complained, coughing into a tissue.

"Clearly you have not been paying attention to grandpa." Rhea deadpanned making Happy groan in annoyance. They focused more on their boxing to make Happy, happy until Happy said they were done. Peter and Rhea were setting on the edge of the ring unwrapping their hands as they talked.

"So…" Peter started hesitantly as he glanced at Rhea out of the corner of his eye. "You kind of left suddenly last night."

"Yeah, sorry about that." Rhea replied, but said no more.

"Uh, can I…can I ask why?" Peter asked.

"Nope." Rhea popped up onto her feet moving away.

"I didn't mean to…I mean…I was just worried is all." Peter stood up as well. "If you ever want to talk or anything I could listen…" Peter started to feel himself start to blabber, quickly snapping his jaw shut with a bashful smile. "Sorry."

"It's alright Peter." Rhea smiled at him and he felt his heart stutter a bit. "Thank you."

"Yeah, yeah, no problem." Peter nodded quickly.

"I'm going to have to take a rain-check on our training next week, I won't be in town." Rhea said.

"Really? Where are you going?" Peter asked.

"To visit my mom and dad." Rhea said then could have kicked herself as Peter perked up, this being one of the few times she had ever mentioned her father.

"Oh, oh, really?" Peter tried to sound casual, but instead still sounded super curious.

"Yeah." Rhea nodded. Peter tried to think of a way of phrasing his question that wouldn't come across as to…questioning. "I can't tell you anymore Pete, I'm sorry."

"It's alright." Peter nodded, noting how sad she looked for a moment. "Listen, Rhea, you don't have to tell me anything you don't want to, I'd never make you do that and I don't want you to ever feel like you should."

"You're amazing, you know that?" Rhea walked back over to him.

"Thanks." He ducked his head.

"No, really Peter." Rhea placed her hand on his shoulder. "You're the best friend I've ever had." Rhea pulled him into a tight hug making his face erupt. "Thank you Peter."

"Anytime Rhea." Peter hugged her back.

"I know you're both having a touching moment, but Mr. Stark is on his way." AL warned them.

They stepped apart just before Tony entered already halfway through a rant that had them both struggling to catch up on. They were both pretty sure it was some new modification to his suits that he was excited about.

To say Tony didn't notice the little looks that passed between them or the ones they shot each other when the other wasn't looking would be completely false. He noticed a lot and it took up quite a bit of his thoughts at times, but if Rhea was going to be interested in someone there were a lot worse boys out there than Peter.

-0-

Rhea was sitting on the front steps of the facility with Mischief laying at her feet when Happy pulled up with Peter. Rhea stood to her feet with Mischief picking himself up from the ground, shaking himself.

"Hey Rhea." Peter greeted with a large smile as Mischief bounded up to him placing his paws on Peter's shoulders trying to lick his face. "Hey Mischief."

"Hey Peter." Rhea smiled back as she slapped her thigh getting Mischief to back off Peter. Happy muttered to himself while rolling his eyes as he headed in doors. He had been fighting a head cold, but was too stubborn to take a day off. "I left some of your favorite soup in the microwave for you, the extra is in the fridge."

"Thank you Rhea." He said in a scratchy voice as he went inside.

"You cook?" He asked.

"Yeah." Rhea nodded then pointed at him. "Don't look so surprised."

"Sorry." Peter ducked his head. "So what's the plan for today?"

"A nice hike with Mischief." Rhea rubbed the top of the large dogs head.

"Really?" Peter perked up.

"I just don't feel like training today." Rhea said as she walked on, Peter falling into step beside her. "Plus it's such a nice day."

"So I don't need to worry about an ambush or anything?" Peter asked hesitantly.

"Maybe, maybe not." Rhea shot him a smirk before laughing as Peter looked around nervously. "Calm down Pete, on my honor I'm not pulling anything on you."

"Ok, alright…" Peter cast her one more playful suspicious look.

"So how's school and the rest of the outside world?" Rhea asked as she formed a ball and through it down the path for Mischief to chase. Peter told her his general day to day events and took notice of just how interested she was in it.

"You don't really get to leave the compound to much do you?" Peter asked hesitantly.

"Not without one of my uncles, aunts, grandfather, or a detail." Rhea shrugged as she took a ball from her pocket and threw it for Mischief to chase down the path. "It's not so bad, I have a friend online named Shuri and we pass the time doing invention exchanges and there's always training with the agents." Rhea took the ball from Mischief giving it another toss. "And i got patrolling with you."

"Well…me, Ned, and some of the Decathlon kids are going to go see the new Aquaman movie that came out, looks pretty good." Peter commented.

"Sounds like fun." Rhea replied. "I've always been a Jason Momoa fan since I watched Star Gate Atlantis."

"Really? I love that series and SG-1." Peter grinned then looked a little nervous. "Would you like to come with us?"

Really?" Rhea looked a bit surprised. "I mean yeah, sure, that'd be great."

"Awesome." Peter smiled, his cheeks pinking a bit as they came back up to the facility, but Peter stopped short looking down at an imprint burned into the grass. "What's this?"

"What's what?" Rhea looked down her eyes widening before shooting up to the front doors that opened up to reveal her mother and father. "Mom, Dad!" Peter looked from Rhea to Vanessa and the tall man standing next to her, his eyes wide. This was Rhea's father, the man few had ever seen. His picture alone was worth a pretty penny to any news facility around the world. Rhea ran up hugging both of her parents as Mischief jumped around them excitedly. "Mom, Dad, this is my best friend, Peter Parker." Rhea smiled over to Peter. "Peter, this is my mom Vanessa and my dad...Thomas."

"Hello." Peter came up to them, noticing Rhea's hesitation at her father's name, but chalking it up to her being nervous introducing him to the mystery that was her father. He had reddish blonde hair, a matching goatee, and pale blue eyes. He wore a nice tailor blue blazer over a white dress shirt with matching slacks and black dress shoes. "Nice to meet you."

"You as well Peter." Vanessa smiled. "Rhea's talked about you quite a lot."

"Only the good stuff though." Rhea grinned making Peter's face pink slightly.

"But he's a boy." Loki pointed out with a small frown.

"What made you think he wasn't?" Rhea looked at her father in confusion. "I told you his name was Peter, I even said 'his name' as in a boy."

Loki merely hummed leveling a cold look at Peter that sent alarming shivers down his spine.

"Come on, let's get inside. We have dinner ready." Vanessa ushered them inside. Rhea rolled her eyes at her father's antics and entwined her arm with Peters as she walked inside. "Be nice. He's very important to Rhea."

"That's what concerns me." Loki grumbled as he followed his wife inside.

Dinner was an interesting affair with Loki questioning Peter almost relentlessly, but Peter answered each question, mostly not realizing that he was being grilled. Vanessa brought up more pleasant avenues of discussion and Tony was having a great time watching Loki go into dad mode.


End file.
